Where are fractals applied, besides art?

Question

anonymous · Answer

I've seen matrices and imaginary numbers being applied, but not fractals :-(

saifoo.khan · Answer

Sounds something scary.

anonymous · Answer

I mean complex numbers* and the imaginary unit

anonymous · Answer

Many things in nature approximate fractals in some way: like crystals, rivers and mountain ranges. You can use it to generate some graphics, like trees and such in videogames, and it is used in signal compression. I heard it is used in medicine for analysis of certain phenomena, but i dont know about this.

turingtest · Answer

People are also trying to apply it to chaos and turbulence theory, which would help understand fluid mechanics.

anonymous · Answer

The logistic map ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistic_map) is used to model populations. The property of fractals called "self-similar under magnification" applies to many natural structures, too (like tree branch sizes, coastlines). So results obtained by analyzing these chaotic or fractal systems can be applied to natural sciences like biology or geology.